One of my specializations is designing and facilitating meetings in which people with diverse interests can tackle complex challenges, like how to aid refugees or how to innovate next-generation solar technology. During these gatherings, people typically generate dozens of ideas. So keeping people curious about each other’s ideas is a key to success for these conversations. And the Proposal Feedback Poster is a tool for stimulating openness and exchange among people with potentially divergent agendas.
Shifting people from binary thinking (e.g., agree vs. disagree, good idea vs. bad idea, realistic vs. impractical) toward a “continuum of support” mindset is one of the best ways to help them find common ground and to collaborate to refine their ideas. I first learned about this idea from author Sam Kaner who calls it “gradients of agreement.” It enables members of a group to express their support for a proposal in degrees, along a scale like this:
Inspired: “Enthusiastically support this”
Like: “Basically, I like this”
Neutral: “I have no opinion”
Concern: “I have concerns”
Oppose: “I do not support this”
Confusion: “I do not understand”
The Proposal Feedback Poster uses the continuum of support to rate each idea and to provide feedback. Here’s how the process works.
1. Give the group a clear question aimed at promoting ideas or solutions to achieve a particular goal (e.g., What will enable us to become the best place to work in the industry?)
2. Individuals or small groups produce proposals ranging in length from one sentence to a single page. Proposals are taped to the designated space on Feedback Posters (one proposal per poster) which line the walls of the room.
3. Participants are asked to mill around, stop at each poster, read the proposal, and to use a marker and post-it notes to weigh-in on the following questions:
* On the scale provided, what is your level of support for this idea?
* What do you like most about this proposal?
* What changes to the proposal would increase your support?
4. Once the group completes this task and the current level of support for each proposal is visible to the group the originators of the proposal take the feedback they have received and refined their idea for a second round.
Click here for a free pdf copy of the Proposal Feedback Poster.
Photo Credit: James Broad
Hi Larry:
A variant of this strategy, which is used by schools today, is the exercise: I like, I wonder, I wish . . . nice work! Keep it coming. This is the only blog I read reliably. Are you putting this out on social media, like Twitter?
Thanks for sharing this complementary approach Ross. I’m sure many of the blog readers will find it useful.
I love this! Thank you,Larry!
That means a lot coming from such a masterful facilitator Annie! I hold our work together as a professional high-point.
Larry, this is a very powerful and inviting approach to gather diverse ideas! Thank you!
I love the word “inviting” to describe this tool. I agree. It invites every participant to give feedback on every proposal. It invites people not to evaluate ideas in black and white terms. It invites people who are proposing their ideas to be open to suggestions and concerns. Thanks Amy.